Monthly Archives: November 2009

“L.A. Unified Retreats on Parental Power to Trigger Reforms”

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A few days ago I wrote about my skepticism and concerns related to the Los Angeles School District’s decision to let parents decide if they wanted their school to be turned-over to a private charter operator (Parents & Schools In Los Angeles). I suggested that if they were really serious about engaging with parents, they would identify a whole lot of other areas where parents could work cooperatively with teachers and administrators — and not just in a questionable “takeover.” I wondered if it was just a move for cheap political cover.

Things seem to be getting crazier and crazier down there, and now the District is backtracking. Check-out Education Week’s piece that came out today and is titled “L.A. Unified Retreats on Parental Power to Trigger Reforms.”

Info From Anne Henderson

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Anne Henderson has been researching parent involvement/engagement strategies for many years, and we cite several of her research findings in our book. She is also the co-author of Beyond the Bake Sale: The Essential Guide to Family-School Partnerships. I’ll be interviewing her for this blog in the coming months.

She provided testimony to the United States Senate in 2007 on Effective Strategies for Engaging Parents and Communities in Schools.

It’s definitely worth a read.

Interview About Parent Engagement Book

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Smart Bean has just published an interview with me about our book Building Parent Engagement In Schools. They’ve titled the piece Engaging With Your Child’s School: Q&A with Larry Ferlazzo.

Here’s how Smart Bean describes itself:

SmartBean is a site for parents that aims to help parents make day to day decisions on practical aspects of parenting largely related to K-12 education and formal/informal learning. It aggregates and presents current education news, research and commentary relevant to parents and in a digestable form. It provides links to educational websites and other resources, and also highlights educational products, books, software and other products aimed at holistic development of children in a changing world. Although its primary focus is on empowering parents, several teachers and educators have found articles and links that are relevant to their work.